Courtney McGrailSharon Murphy shares her experience of working with the YOUCAT Development Project
Sharon Murphy
Whenever I heard someone talking about YOUCAT (Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church), I always just thought of the yellow youth catechism with the cool stick figure drawings. It was a resource that I had used many times for my work with Clogher diocese and I really liked how it was presented and designed to engage young people. But I never really thought about the people behind the book or about their wider vision for YOUCAT.
So when I was asked to apply for the YOUCAT Development Project 2015 (YOUDEPRO 2015), I thought it sounded like fun, but I couldn’t really picture what the project would be like because it is just a book, right? Wrong!
I have learned that YOUCAT is much more than a book, it is a catalyst, a resource, it is something that is to be studied and shared, it is something that challenges us to express our faith in daily life.
When I embarked on my journey to the international headquarters of the YOUCAT Foundation in Germany with my YOUCAT in hand, I took some time to read the preface of the book which was written by Pope Benedict XVI. His message was very clear – we need to know our faith, we need to share it and express it in our lives and through spending time with the YOUCAT Foundation, I could see first-hand that they live out this request from the Pope in everything that they do.
This year, young people from Indonesia, Kenya, USA, Croatia and Ireland came together in May for YOUDEPRO 2015 and I was blessed enough to be able to represent Ireland. The three month programme had a very clear objective; to equip and empower young people from around the world to bring the teachings of the Church to other young people.
This is where I fell in love with what the YOUCAT Foundation is aspiring to do.
They not only provide materials for young people, but they are firm followers in the statement from Pope Francis, “The best instrument to evangelise young people is other young people”. Not only is the YOUCAT material designed for young people, but young people play a central role in developing the material. All of the questions that have been answered in the YOUCAT have come from young people around the world, as have the images and testimonies. I even got a chance to help with some of the questions for new material coming out and I have provided a testimony for the Youth Bible, which will be coming out soon.
The YOUDEPRO again highlights the YOUCAT Foundation’s desire to give the young people the skills and confidence to continue their work back in their own countries. This is achieved through training, workshops, team building and opportunities to grow personally and spiritually.
We got to meet so many great people who helped us during the programme and provided us with workshops on many things including Christian business, fundraising and being a missionary.
Also, we got to meet and learn more about youth communities from across Europe, such as the Loretto community in Austria and Skac in Croatia. It was inspiring to see what these communities are doing in their areas and the impact they are having on the lives of young people there.
We did manage to have a lot of fun along the way and we made the most of our time in Europe by visiting many cities in Germany, Austria, visiting Rome for a weekend, attending youth meetings, and enjoying the beautiful scenery in the alps.
We also got to spend a week sailing in Croatia with the President of Aid to the Church in Need and the writers and directors of YOUCAT as we presented our work to them.
The experience was capped off with some time spent at the Medjugorje Youth Festival where many young Irish people were in attendance. Seeing the Irish flag being flown in the middle of hundreds of others from around the world was one of the highlights of the week.
We had a YOUCAT stand at the festival and meeting and talking to young people from all around the world was a brilliant way to finish off our time on the programme.
Experiencing the atmosphere of the youth festival was amazing and by helping out one of the other group members, Vallentine (Kenya) I ended up representing Kenya in the closing ceremony and for a ginger haired girl from Fermanagh, I think I did a pretty good job!
One thing that really struck me during my shared time with the international group, was that despite the cultural differences and the challenges that are specific to our own countries, there was one area that we all agreed was a struggle and that was engaging young people in a meaningful way with the Church.
There is no one solution to this challenge but I do feel that the YOUCAT material and young people who want to share their faith, have a part to play in changing this.